Dushanbe, at least where we live, is threaded with these little canals at the side of the streets. Maybe "canal" makes it sound altogether too romantic. Don't get the idea this is like the Freiburger Bächle. They are more prosaic, also quite dangerous for drivers, and often the pathways stretching those canals into the courtyards are narrow and the danger of slipping is very real. This is what I'm talking about:

Not too bad, really. Mostly, they do not have trash in them, it's just water. (I say that because this is not the status quo in second world countries.) The water comes from spraying down the streets in the mornings, a ritual that at least in our street many housewives seem to take part in. It's dusty, right? So they spray the dust off the streets into those little canals at 7 am. I guess they would be handy for rain overflow, as well. I can't tell you because it hasn't rained for some 60 days or so.

The canals usually run along one side of the street. Ours is on the opposite side, and it's mostly dry. This morning, I peeked in and found this sad thing:

My neighbors could not understand why I got all sentimental about it. A few yards down the street, we found the torso, then another leg. We did not find the head, nor the arms. It's all still in the canal. Should we rescue it? I confess I would feel all self-conscious about it. Tajiks are very meticulous people.